NetApp and Google Cloud, whose CEOs are twin brothers, announce an expanded partnership because 'it would be crazy for us not to bring our services there'

• On Wednesday, NetApp and Google Cloud announced an expanded partnership to allow NetApp's storage and data management services work with Google Cloud.
• Notably, NetApp CEO George Kurian and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian are twin brothers - although the origin of the partnership dates back to Diane Greene, Thomas Kurian's predecessor Google Cloud.
• NetApp also announced a new product that works with Anthos, a Google Cloud product launched earlier this year that allows customers to manage their software across their own data centers and the cloud - even rival clouds, like Amazon's or Microsoft's.
• NetApp decided to partner with Google Cloud because many customers were asking for it, Anthony Lye, senior vice president and general manager at NetApp, says.
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$15 billion data storage company NetApp and Google Cloud just announced an expanded partnership to help customers take advantage of a wave in cloud computing that all the major players are trying to ride.

Intriguingly, NetApp CEO George Kurian and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian are twin brothers, although the partnership dates back to 2017, when Diane Greene was still Google Cloud's chief exec.

The partnership hinges on the notion of the hybrid cloud, which allows customers to run their data and applications across both their private data centers and public cloud platforms like Google's. Microsoft has long established hybrid as a key part of its cloud strategy, though Google and Amazon have both pushed into the space.

NetApp, for its part, has long made hybrid cloud part of its strategy: Its data storage software can run anywhere and everywhere, across servers and the cloud. This newly-expanded partnership with Google takes it a step further though, as NetApp announces on Wednesday NetApp HCI for Google Cloud Anthos.

This new product makes NetApp's services work with Anthos - Google's hybrid cloud product that launched in April and allows customers to use multiple clouds, including Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. Anthos has been core to Google Cloud's newly-refined hybrid cloud strategy.

"We're big fans of Anthos," Anthony Lye, senior vice president and general manager at NetApp, told Business Insider. "We've already been working with the Anthos team on Google Cloud to make sure it's available to Anthos developers as they build and deploy stateful applications."

In addition, NetApp announced NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud, which allows customers to use NetApp's file service with Google Cloud, as well as Cloud Volumes ONTAP for Google Cloud, which allows customers to manage data across a hybrid cloud.

'It would be crazy for us not to bring our services there'

Lye says that NetApp first met with Greene, then the Google Cloud CEO, two years ago, with a plan to provide enterprise-grade file storage management.

"We discussed the opportunity that was in front of us to bring an enterprise-based file service into Google Cloud," Lye said. "We sat around and sort of engineered and defined a road map that I don't think anyone has ever done at Google."

Then, and today, Google Cloud was seen as technologically advanced, but somewhat lacking in features that could appeal to the needs of larger customers. NetApp saw an opportunity: If Google Cloud customers needed NetApp's kind of file system management, then it could be a win-win.

"We respect the wishes of our customers. There's a lot of customers that want Google Cloud," Lye said. "It would be crazy for us not to bring our services there...I think Google speaks for itself. It's a phenomenal platform and loved by many customers."

This partnership also stands to help both companies attract customers who are deeply invested in other major IT software vendors. For example, many SAP customers are also big NetApp users, says Kevin Ichhpurani, corporate vice president of global ecosystem and business development at Google Cloud, meaning it can help them transition from their own data centers into the cloud.

"There's a deep engineering collaboration between the two companies to deliver these solutions," Ichhpurani told Business Insider.

In the future, Lye says to expect more to come from NetApp and Google Cloud's partnership.

"I don't think we decided to work to this date, shake hands, and call it a day," Lye said. "The teams now have a number of innovative projects. We plan to release more and more capabilities together over the coming months and years."

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